Pokemon TCG Local Tournament Report - Pitch Black Format

Hi there. It has been a while I have done these.

In this Pokemon TCG local tournament report, I visit Toronto as part of a day trip, eat food, shop around and play a local Pokemon tournament.

Note: This post is long, read what you want.

A & C Games + Tournament Format

---

I revisit A & C Games on a Sunday in Toronto. I don't play much in-person events outside of prereleases. Although I post a bit of Pokemon TCG stuff, I play mostly online and don't take too much time and money to go to in-person events.

Tournament entry is free but the tournament format has changed slightly. It used to be one pack per win from the 3 rounds. The new prizing format is now prize pack per win if your win-loss record is X-0 and X-1.

You need to lose at most once to get prizing. If you lose 2 out of 3 rounds then you get nothing. I am not sure if ties counts as a loss for prizing purposes.

Maybe there is a lot of demand for these tournaments. So they made it slightly tougher to get prize packs.

The prize pack cards contains mostly playable cards for Pokemon TCG players. Some people like to put them in decks for flexing purposes. Some like to collect the cards or packs and sell them privately. (The pack does say not for resale but it does not stop private sellers trying to make cash on Ebay.)

If I win packs, great. If I don't, then it is not a big deal. I do have a lot of playable cards anyways.

Deck Choice & Decklist

---

I wanted to play my main deck Hydrapple ex but I wanted to play a new archetype from Pitch Black. Toucannon with the Noctowl engine + Cornerstone Ogerpon ex is my choice here.

Pokémon: 9
2 Hoothoot SCR 114
3 Trumbeak PBL 67
1 Tatsugiri TWM 131
1 Chien-Pao SSP 56
4 Pikipek PBL 66
2 Noctowl SCR 115
2 Fan Rotom SCR 118
2 Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 112
4 Toucannon PBL 68

Trainer: 15
1 Switch SVI 194
4 Poké Pad ASC 198
3 Rare Candy SVI 191
3 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
1 Kieran TWM 154
1 Brave Bangle WHT 80
3 Fighting Gong MEG 116
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Prime Catcher PRE 119
1 Air Balloon SSH 156
2 Dawn PFL 87
2 Boss's Orders PAL 172
1 Sacred Ash DRI 168

Energy: 2
4 Basic {F} Energy MEE 6
2 Spiky Energy JTG 159

Total Cards: 60

In private testing, this deck seems okay. The firepower on Toucannon is pretty high as it can hit 280 damage. Sometimes I get 320 damage if I have Area Zero Underdepths and if there are lot of Benched Pokemon on both sides.

As there is Fan Rotom and a lot of search cards, the deck's consistency should be high. Good consistency ensures that the deck functions okay most of the time and prevents bricking/bad draws.

Prime Catcher is my ACE SPEC here. There could be other suitable options. A few Spiky Energy is included. The 20 chip damage kind of helps. One less Benched Pokemon required for Toucannon.

I could have put in a Fezandipiti ex or Meowth ex but they are two prize liabilities. They could be okay but deck space can be tight.

Round 1

---

In my first round, I face against a Hydrapple ex deck. The opponent was someone I may have played against once before and have seen a couple times in the past. I know this guy is good.

My opponent's lead Active Pokemon was a Meowth ex and I had a Pikipek. His lead Pokemon turn one is very unlucky.

I made one bad misplay in this game where I did a math error and was off by 10 damage. However, this game ended up being a comfortable win for me. My opponent seemed to have bad setup and luck. I think this Toucannon deck is favoured into Hydrapple provided I have enough Boss's Orders and use Prime Catcher well.

Round 2

---

My second round opponent was someone I faced before many times. She used to play meme decks in the past but has decided to play N's Zoroark today. I saw her round 1 game against a youngster (around 8 years old with dad coaching him).

This youngster played Toucannon + Alakazam. This duo deck is kind of favoured against Zoroark but the youngster's game skill was not very good even with the dad's coaching. N's Darmanitan is dangerous.

Onto our game. My setup was okay until I suffer 2 knockouts to N's Zoroark with N's Darmanitan. Then I setup again in the next turns. Then I get 2 of my Pokemon knocked out again with N's Darmanitan. This did not look good. She was at 2 Prize cards left to my 6.

I setup up pieces again and try to mount a comeback. In her discard pile, I did notice she has used up 3 N's PP Up and probably is struggling for Dark energy for future attacks. With no energy, a future attack was not happening for a bit. This was my small opening.

At this point, all 3 of my knockouts had to be 2 Prize Knockouts (Pokemon ex). First knockout on a Zoroark ex. Then on a second Zoroark ex on the following turn. We are tied at 2 Prize Cards each. At this point, I thought a comeback is possible. Plus her draws were not great and I was gaining momentum.

Then the N's Zoroark ex deck becomes a control/stall deck. Yveltal and Boss's Orders to trap my Tatsugiri.

In response, I use my second Noctowl to fetch a Kieran and my last Boss's Orders.

Kieran was to switch out of the retreat lock to knockout the Yveltal. Then on the next turn, use Boss's Orders to knockout a weak Pokemon to get my sixth and final Prize card. This plan worked. I did the comeback win after extra time past 30 minutes.

There were spectators too who were watching my game and the game on my right between Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Rampardos ex/Bastiodon. Garchomp ex player won somehow despite her being relatively new.

Being at two wins and 0 losses right now, I am guaranteed some prizing. A Prize pack per win if you are at 0 or 1 loss out of 3 rounds.

Round Three Vs Mega Lucario ex

---

My third round opponent played Mega Lucario ex. The opponent was kind of new to in-person play. During the game, he seemed unfamiliar to Noctowl, Cornerstone Ogerpon ex and Fan Rotom.

We had a confusion moment where I won the coin flip and mentioned I would start first. He thought that he goes first. We had to undo some things and resume as normal.

This game was just weird for me. No Fan Rotoms turn one but I do have Tatsugiri in the Active Spot. Turn 1 and 2 I miss the Tatsugiri's Attract Customers. My hand had no Supporters and was not usable. The opponent on turn 3 uses Judge to gain cards but it also helped me.

He does get Mega Lucario ex out and swinging around turn 3. As my hand was bad, I could not do much. I do eventually get a 2 hit knockout on his Mega Lucario ex. The prize cards were at 3 for me and I think 3 for him also.

There was a small window where I could maybe get a comeback win. Then the second Judge from him arrives. I get a bad non-usable hand somehow and then lose to a Boss's Orders.

Given the not so great luck, I did what I could. I provided some okay resistance and opposition to the opponent. There may have been a moment or two where he felt I could make a comeback.

Post Tournament

---

This Fighting version of a Toucannon deck was not my main deck and was experimental. If I won then great. If I lost, then I would modify the deck or change decks. Two wins and 1 loss in 3 best of 1 rounds is still good. I think I ranked 3 or 4th out of maybe 16 players.

I got 2 packs of the most recent Prize Pack Series 9. As I have a lot of playable cards, I don't need much. Here is what I got.

The stamped Decidueye ex ain't too bad.

After the tournament, I shop around at two other card stores. At the first store, I bought a Luis Suarez card for 3 CAD and a Harry Kane card. One CAD for Harry Kane is a steal and I am not a Harry Kane fan. At the second store, I did not get anything as it was unusually super busy and crowded.

A third card store did not have my order ready for pickup. It was ready as I was leaving Toronto. Ahhh. I would have to visit again next week. A new tournament blog is likely next week.

Thank you for reading.